Ghosts of the Past
by LightningWind236
Summary: Eleven years have passed since the events of WATCH DOGS. Aiden is still the infamous vigilante of Chicago, but suddenly, new threats arise and he gets a visit from someone he thought he would never see again. *MAJOR WATCH DOGS SPOILERS*
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** This is my very first fanfiction and I'm hoping to improve my writing skills. The story is in response to the emotional events that happen later in the game so there will be spoilers! All characters belong to Ubisoft, except my OC's! The plot of this story and the OC's belong to me. Rated T for mild language and some gore and violence. I hope you enjoy the story!

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**Chapter 1:_ 11 Years Later_**

A young man, in his early twenties, approached a dilapidated house in the middle of the night in High Grove, Chicago. He was wearing dark blue jeans, black sneakers, a thin white hoodie, and a dark grey overcoat with black gloves. On the outside, he seemed calm, but he was actually nervous on the inside. He hasn't been back here for the past eleven years as his mother never brought them back for fear for both of them. Well, nothing was stopping him from visiting now.

He entered through the backdoor, as quietly as possible. Nothing much has changed aside from the poor condition of the house. The whole house was dark except for a dim light coming from the front of the house. He wrinkled his nose in disgust as a bitter smell permeated the kitchen. The smell lead to one of the rooms, which happened to be his former room.

As he peeked inside, the smell became almost unbearable, but he was determined to see who was in his home. The light was coming from a small lamp by the bedside table, which hadn't been turned off. The room hadn't changed either aside from its poor condition and was spartan, save for some picture frames that sat on the table. A small table was nearby with several empty bottles of alcohol sitting on it.

The young man glanced down on his bed and saw a sleeping figure with their back to him. He then picked up one of the picture frames and suppressed a gasp when he recognized a younger version of him, his dead sister, his mom, and his uncle all smiling. He then placed it back on the table in the position he found it and carefully walked around the bed.

As the young man studied the sleeping man on his bed, he instantly recognized him as his Uncle Aiden. His uncle had aged much over the last eleven years so that he looked older than he really is. The sight of the state of his uncle was enough to nearly shatter his heart. He knew that he and his mother had no choice but to leave Chicago all those years ago; he later learned it would have happened sooner or later anyways due to his uncle's past, but it didn't make it any easier to leave. His mother, Nicky Pearce, was heartbroken for a few years before she learned to accept it and move on with her life. It was harder for him since many events happened in the course of a year; he was nine when his sister was killed in a car accident at the age of six and when he was ten, he and his mom had to leave behind his uncle and Chicago for good.

All these events including the discovery of Clara Lille's betrayal and her death and having no one to trust or lean on all these years have definitely changed his uncle for the worse. Not to mention those fixers that might've gone after his uncle during these eleven years, including Jordi Chin.

He immediately felt guilty for not trying to persuade his mother to visit his uncle during all these years away since she seemed adamant on not seeing Uncle Aiden ever again. His uncle had lost her trust and respect and his for a time too. He had questioned whether his uncle was the good guy or the bad guy since he saw him kill those men all those years ago. That had scared him, as he didn't expect that from his gentle and caring uncle.

All these thoughts ran through his mind in the space of a few seconds as he heard the click of a gun and immediately backed up with his hands up to show he didn't mean any harm.

"Who are you?!" a deep and gruff voice asked him. The young man was surprised at the speed his uncle moved for his age and because he was probably drunk or sleeping it off. Amazingly, his uncle wasn't that drunk as far as he could tell.

"Uncle Aiden, it's me, Jackson," answered the young man, as calm as possible. His uncle slightly lowered his handgun, still wary, as Jackson approached him so that the light of the lamp illuminated his features. Aiden scanned the young man's features for signs of dishonesty, but when he didn't find any, he took in the same serious green eyes that he had, that stubborn set to his jaw just like his uncle, and the same messy brown hair. He was tall now like his uncle, at six feet and had an athletic build. It really was Jackson, just more mature and had a deeper voice.

"Jacks, is that really you?" Aiden lowered his gun and put it on his bedside table. He turned back to face Jackson again with tears forming. "I thought I'd never see you again," Aiden said. Jackson took this opportunity to give his uncle the biggest and longest bear hug in his life. Both men cried for a while, one of the rare times they let themselves be vulnerable.

After the tears were over, Aiden asked, "So how have you been?" Jackson took that moment to update Aiden on his life after he and his mother left Chicago. They went to live with relatives in Massachusetts for the past eleven years. Life was hard without Lena already, but when they had to leave Aiden and their home behind, both were devastated, but Jacks' mom understood why. Jacks explained how his mom was paranoid about going back to Chicago after they both discovered he was the vigilante everyone was talking about for a year and how his uncle was doing dangerous work even though he never told them anything. Moving to a new place was hard on both Nicky and Jacks, as they didn't have much to begin with. Nicole still worked as an event planner, while Jacks entered a new school. They both needed some normalcy in their life. As Jacks grew older, he began to understand why Aiden did what he did in order to protect his family, even if the means were extreme. He had read various articles about Aiden; to an extent, Aiden's means were justified no matter how many times Jacks analyzed them. Aiden only killed to protect, never just for the sake of killing.

"How is your mom nowadays, Jacks?" asked Aiden.

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**Constructive criticism greatly appreciated! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks so much for the favs, follows, and reviews!

Chapter 2: Distress

_"How is your mom nowadays, Jacks?" asked Aiden. _

Instead of a verbal response, Jacks looked down and bit his lip. He began trembling with his hands curled into fists. Aiden immediately furrowed his brows and grabbed Jacks' shoulders. Slowly, he told Jacks to look at him and repeated the question. Jacks hesitantly raised his eyes to meet Aiden's; Aiden's signature piercing glare made Jacks more nervous. Aiden noticed this and his eyes softened. He gave Jacks a few moments to gather himself and take deep breaths.

"Mom…mom is dead," Jacks replied. Aiden felt like he was run over by several trucks and flung into the ocean. The wait for the response was agonizing, but not as agonizing as those three words. Aiden sat there, stunned, as he processed what Jacks had just said. Then he slowly got up, walked around the room in a daze, and punched the wall, HARD.

Jacks jumped at the sudden punch to the wooden wall that nearly left a dent. He had never seen his uncle so angry in his entire life. He didn't say anything as he let his uncle come to terms with the news.

Aiden slumped over in grief. Jacks knew Uncle Aiden had tried his hardest to keep him and his mom safe from whatever his uncle was involved in, but ultimately, it came back to bite him in the butt. It seemed Uncle Aiden could never escape his former life; that's how it always was with gangs and thugs, as Jacks had discovered about his uncle.

"I've tried so hard to keep you and your mom out of this," Aiden started. Jacks responded, "I know." Aiden looked crestfallen when he turned to look back at Jacks. He made his way back to the bed and sat across from Jacks.

"Jacks, do you know what happened? Tell me everything. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Don't leave any details out," Aiden said sternly. Jacks instantly knew that it was that vigilante side of his uncle he was showing. The side that had no patience for crap and wanted everything straight to the point. So different from his gentle and caring side that Jacks had only seen until he was ten.

"It happened a year ago," Jacks began. He stared at his hands in his lap and readied himself for the onslaught of emotions he had tried to contain.

"It was the middle of the night, and I was walking home from a friend's birthday party," Jacks recalled, "I still lived with Mom of course; after Lena and you, she didn't want her only child to be gone from her life too." Aiden nodded in acknowledgement. It would make sense that Nicky acted that way, as she said a long time ago, _"It was always about family." _

"Anyways, I was only a few houses away from home when I heard gunshots in quick succession from inside the house," Jacks said. Aiden whipped his head back to attention with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

"I rushed on home and noticed two black cars with tinted windows parked in front of our house. I ran towards the back of the house just in case if any of those people saw me. When I ran through the back door into the kitchen…" Jacks closed his eyes. Aiden tried to prepare himself mentally as best as he could. This couldn't have been easy for Jacks either to recall more traumatic events in his young life.

"I saw Mom on the floor, a real bloody mess and barely conscious. There were ten men dressed in black suits with shades and assault rifles and handguns. One guy, who was probably the leader, was pointing a handgun at her, ready to fire the killing shot. When I called out to her, she looked up at me with fear in her eyes and yelled at me to run. I turned and ran as fast as I could and heard gunshots behind me. I heard Mom scream and then silence," Jacks finished. He put his head in his hands for the longest time, his shoulders shaking.

"I couldn't save her. I couldn't save her!" Jacks began to sob uncontrollably.

Aiden put his arms around Jacks as Jacks bunched Aiden's knit sweater into his hands. Jacks' breaths only seemed to get increasingly shorter as time passed, which alarmed Aiden. Aiden grabbed Jacks' shoulders and gently pushed him off. Jacks was having a panic attack.

Aiden firmly and quietly said, "Jacks it's alright, I'm here. You're not there. It's all in the past." He repeated this until Jacks was able to disengage himself from the traumatic memories. Aiden looked at Jacks and hugged him tightly to remind Jacks that he was safe.

"Uncle, to be honest, I didn't go back the day after," Jacks said a moment later when he was calmer. Aiden patted Jacks on the head, "It's alright. I understand." He wouldn't have wanted Jacks to risk his life anyways because he didn't want to lose another family member, his last family member at that.

Suddenly a phone started ringing. Both jumped in surprise. Jacks took out his phone and took the call.

"Yeah, uh-huh, be right there," Jacks replied. Aiden heard a woman's voice coming from the phone. Jacks ended the call and put it away.

"Sorry Uncle, I have to go back to my apartment. It's getting late," Jacks told Aiden.

"Mind telling me who that was?" Aiden asked evenly, the protective streak coming out.

Jacks smiled sheepishly and answered, "My girlfriend, Christine."

Aiden smirked and punched Jacks playfully on the shoulder. "You should introduce me to her sometime!" he said.

"Tomorrow at 6 for dinner, then?" Jacks asked.

"Sure, now go. She must be worried sick!" Aiden ruffled Jacks' hair.

"Uncle," Jacks grumbled. He got off the bed, straightened himself, and left the house.

Now that the excitement was over, Aiden didn't feel tired anymore. Being the restless guy he was, he got off the bed and put on his trench coat, baseball cap, and scarf. Then he picked up his phone, retractable baton, and gun and headed outside. Time to save some people.

* * *

He had his GPS on his phone out, tracking the potential criminal to an alleyway. The man was 45 years old, a registered sex offender, and currently unemployed. In the alleyway, he tailed the man for a little while before crouching down and hiding behind a crate. The potential criminal had looked back to make sure no one was following him and he almost got spotted. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He crouched there for a few minutes while looking at his phone to access the percentage of the potential crime until he heard…

"Let me go!" shouted a woman. The woman's ex-husband had her arms pinned above her head with one hand and he was trying to rip her clothes off with the other. The woman tried to fight back by kicking at the man, but he pressed her harder against the wall.

Both froze in shock when a man vaulted over the crates with a retractable baton out and came running towards them. The criminal unfroze and let the woman go to run, but he didn't get very far before the man with the baton came and took him down with a swing to the back of the guy's knees and then his temple. The criminal then dropped in a heap on the ground as the man put away his baton.

The woman looked up fearfully at her savior while pulling her clothes together. She mumbled a 'thank you' before scurrying off. As much as he helped people in need like this, the media always blew his efforts out of proportion and twisted the facts to make him seem like a criminal, but he wasn't. Sure he might've killed some people, but that was always in defense.

He took out a length of strong rope and bound the criminal's wrists and ankles together. With a few swipes of his finger on his phone, he caused a blackout throughout the whole five blocks so he could drag the criminal to the police station.

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Aiden finally finished cleaning up the last of the criminals in Parker Square for the day. Recently, the amount of criminal activity had been increasing even after the ctOS 2.0 was installed. Sure, it made it easier to stop criminals, but for some reason, the criminal activity still increased, if even a little bit. Last week, he dismantled another human trafficking ring, which was the seventh one in eleven years. All this non-stop vigilante action was beginning to seriously tire him out, but he wouldn't stop because more people would get hurt if he knew there was something he could do about it.

Aiden checked the time, which glowed 5 AM on his phone. Then he decided to return home and rest up as much as he could. He felt that he would need it.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone! I hope I didn't keep you guys waiting for the next chapter. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! And many thanks for the reviews and follows! I'm curious as to what your thoughts are about the story, whether it's my writing style, the story itself, or anything else about it. It would help me improve my writing and write better chapters. As always, thanks for reading!

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Chapter 3: Questions

Aiden woke up to his phone alarm. He had almost forgotten about it in the excitement of what had transpired early in the morning. He checked it and it read 10 AM.

"Shit!" he thought. He was THAT tired. He rubbed his face, suddenly feeling really old at that realization. He never really slept more than two to three hours a night nowadays due to the fixers. He was lucky if he even got five, like today.

Aiden sat up and shuffled over to the bathroom to clean himself up for the day. Then he turned on the TV that sat on a dresser across from his, no, Jack's bed. "Ugh technically it is his bed, but he hasn't lived here in years," Aiden thought.

Then he smiled when he saw the stuffed Rabbid sitting on the small table in the room. It was one of Jacks' favorite toys and he must've forgotten it when he and Nicky had to leave Chicago. It was one of the things that Aiden treasured immensely. He also had Lena's stuffed lamb next to it, as one day, he felt that she wanted him to keep it, rather than leave it out to rot on her grave. She wouldn't have wanted that to happen to her beloved toy.

"...unconscious criminals were found in front of the police station in The Loop," the reporter said on TV. Aiden whipped his head back to the TV in surprise.

Whoever this guy was, he was much bolder than him in dispatching criminals. These reports have been going on for a year and a half now, a few times a month.

Realizing that he would never get anywhere by just sitting there, he got up to go to the bathroom to freshen up. Then he went to the kitchen and brewed himself his favorite cup of coffee. As he blew into the cup, he looked around the kitchen and pondered fixing up the place now that Jacks came back. It wasn't that hard considering he could siphon people's bank accounts just by sifting through their personal data effortlessly. He had numerous bank accounts under different names in case anything happened to one of them.

Aiden took a sip of his coffee as he pondered what Jacks told him last night. No matter how much he tried to keep them out of harm's way, it always somehow caught up to them, using and hurting them to get back at him. He had thought about telling them everything at one point, but then, he would put them in more danger if he did so. He also didn't want Jacks to follow his path because Nicky would become extremely overprotective. She would immediately cut off any contact with Aiden and Aiden wouldn't be able to handle that.

It wasn't worth thinking about now; the past was the past. He wouldn't regret anything he did and would only move forward. Aiden put his empty mug in the sink and grabbed everything he needed to do his job as the vigilante.

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It was the tenth beep that went off today. Aiden had spent the past five hours tailing and catching criminals across the whole city. It was an extremely exhausting job, from tailing criminals to full out police chases. Aiden didn't mind at the same time, since he liked the action and adrenaline, but he wished he could leave this life for a more peaceful one after many years of being the vigilante. His biggest wish was to have those damn fixers stop chasing him because he was quite sick and tired of it. That was his only regret.

Aiden decided that tenth one would be the last one for today. He walked towards a blue Mustang, looked around to make sure nobody was watching him closely, used his phone to open it without setting off the alarms, and climbed in. The criminal activity detection came from The Loop and he was currently in Pawnee, so the car would be helpful in getting him there in record time. Aiden drove quickly to the southern part of The Loop and parked it outside the alley of the potential crime. He got out nonchalantly and pulled his phone out.

As soon as he turned it on, the alert for the potential crime suddenly cleared from his screen. Aiden's eyebrows raised as he checked to make sure his phone wasn't malfunctioning, which was highly unlikely since he kept it updated and in working condition. He decided to investigate and entered the alley while crouching. He had his phone in his left hand and his right hand was ready with his baton.

Aiden hid behind a wooden crate, listening for any footsteps or movement. There were none. He snuck a peek from behind the crate and spotted an immobile form sprawled on the ground twenty feet away from him.

He hacked into several of the surrounding ctOS cameras to make sure there was no one else in the alley that could jump him. Breathing a sigh of relief, he cautiously approached the still form while scanning the area with his eyes. There was always a chance someone could come in the time it took him to reach the person.

When he was near the person, he stood up and looked down at the form. It appeared to be a man in his early twenties, named Dylan Lark, worked as a bus driver, income was $31,700. He was also listed as a Black Viceroy gang member. There were multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and one in his head.

Aiden also spotted a thin trail of blood leading away from the body towards the opposite side of where Aiden came from. He followed it, still being wary as anyone can jump at him from anywhere. The trail of blood stopped just at the entrance of the alley. The person must have bandaged their wound quickly so no one could follow the blood trail.

Aiden hacked some nearby cameras to try to find a recording of what had transpired. Surprisingly, he couldn't find anything; the person must also be a skilled hacker.

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Seeing that he was going to get nowhere, and it was already 4:30 PM, he decided to head home and get cleaned up before Jacks and Christine came over. He didn't want to give them a bad first impression after Jacks came in to the house to a disheveled Aiden. Jacks' reappearance into his life gave him back a reason to live. He thought that he would waste away with no one left that cared about him.

He called up Jordi's friend of a friend for a motorcycle delivery, who delivered vehicles within a few minutes. Aiden hopped on the motorcycle and sped back to Parker Square to Nicky's former house. He cleaned himself up in record time and then changed into another set of clothes, consisting of a plain white T-shirt, jeans, and black sneakers with a gray hoodie on top.

Aiden went over to the kitchen and began to prepare some shepherd's pie and vegetable soup. He had gotten tired of take out after a while and decided to learn how to cook. It was rather enjoyable and brightened up his gloomy days. While the food was cooking, he set the table up and checked the clock mounted above the table, which read 5:45 PM.

In one of the few times in his life, he was rather nervous, as he didn't know what he would talk about with them. Jacks knew that he was the vigilante, but did Jacks tell his girlfriend? That could put her in unnecessary danger, as Aiden had tried to prevent that with Nicky and Jacks.

As Aiden was pondering this, the doorbell rang. He started in surprise, his heart hammering against his chest because he didn't decide on what to say yet. "I guess I'll wing it," he thought.

Aiden walked to the front door and opened it, in a stance that was ready to spring into action if needed. When he saw that it was only Jacks and Christine, he relaxed.

Jacks was still wearing the same outfit from this morning while Christine wore a black peacoat, a dark red dress shirt with the collar peeking out, dark gray jeans, and black combat boots. She was a brunette with mid-length hair and red tips and didn't wear makeup. Aiden noticed that she looked familiar, but couldn't place it.

"Hi, I'm Aiden," Aiden said. He put his hand out.

"I'm Christine. It's great to finally see the uncle that Jacks has been raving about," Christine smiled and shook Aiden's hand.

"The pleasure's mine Christine. I already have dinner prepared so come in," Aiden said.

Jacks and Christine went into the foyer and Jacks took his coat off and hung it. He helped Christine take hers off and hung her coat up.

"A gentleman hmm?" Aiden smirked. Jacks blushed and Christine beamed.

The three made their way to the kitchen and Jacks and Christine sat down. Aiden brought over the steaming vegetable soup and shepherd's pie and then sat down. They all dug into their food and ate in a comfortable silence.

"So Aiden, what do you do for a living?" Christine asked after they finished eating.

"I teach people how to shoot at a nearby gun range," Aiden replied. It was his standard reply whenever people asked him.

"Wow! I wish I could learn. Papa always forbade me because he thought it was dangerous," Christine said thoughtfully. "I wanted to learn just in the case the need arose."

"I could teach you if you're free anytime," Aiden offered. Christine's eyes lit up at this suggestion and nodded enthusiastically.

"So what are you two doing now?" Aiden asked. Jacks had never mentioned it now that he thought about it.

"Before we came here, I was working on a bachelor's degree towards computer engineering and Christine modeled for a fashion magazine," Jacks replied grimly.

Jacks suddenly clutched his side and grimaced. "Are you alright, Jacks?" Aiden's voice was laced with fear and concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just an old injury that occasionally hurts," Jacks managed to calm Aiden down.

"He got it while defending me from some creep with a knife a few years ago," Christine explained. "Jacks had to go to the hospital afterwards for some stitches." Aiden's eyes widened in alarm.

"That was actually how I met Jacks. I was doing a photoshoot during the day in the city where Jacks lived. That night, I had decided to take a walk in the park near Jacks' college campus when the creep tried to mug me. Luckily, he was nearby with a group of friends and saw what was happening," Christine chuckled at the memory.

"He ran towards us as I was dodging the guy's knife and began to fight the guy. That bastard managed to cut Jacks' side deeply after he feinted an attack and Jacks was down for the count. Luckily, I managed to subdue him with my judo when he came at me. His friends and I then got him to the hospital quickly and the rest is history," Christine finished. Jacks had his head in his hands in embarrassment.

"I guess I don't have to worry about you with a girlfriend who can hold her own," Aiden remarked. Jacks groaned but didn't lift his head up. Christine playfully punched Jacks' shoulder.

Aiden's phone beeped. "Sorry I gotta take this," he said calmly to Jacks and Christine. He exited the kitchen to his bedroom and checked his phone. There were cars speeding towards his home.

"Shit! Jacks and Christine are here-" Aiden didn't get to finish his thought before he heard gunfire outside his house.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! It makes me incredibly happy and excited to receive comments and feedback from you guys as they help me think about things I could add to the story! Aiden is a little hard to read, but I'll try to keep him as in-character as possible. Jacks, on the other hand, didn't get much screen time so I'm building his personality mainly from what other characters say about him and how he reacts to them. I'm having so much fun writing this story and I hope you all enjoy it! Happy reading!

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Chapter 4: Secrets

_"Shit! Jacks and Christine are here-" Aiden didn't get to finish his thought before he heard gunfire outside his house. _

Aiden grabbed his gun on his nightstand and rushed into the kitchen, where Jacks and Christine were already in defensive stances. Jacks and Christine had their phones and guns out. Aiden looked at them in astonishment, then shook his head; there were more important matters to attend to right now.

They could hear the men breaking down the front door and storming towards the back. Aiden indicated to them to stay flat against the wall so the men couldn't see them. The first man came through to the kitchen and Aiden put a bullet through his head as the man saw them, but not before Aiden was shot in the right shoulder as he tried to dodge the man's gunshot. The man dropped in a heap on the kitchen floor, with blood and brain matter splattered everywhere. Aiden grunted in pain while grasping his shoulder to stop the blood flow. The men behind the dead man stopped before entering the kitchen and shot into the kitchen, trying to wound or kill one of the three.

Jacks and Christine took the opening when the men were reloading to shoot at them. All of them were wounded or dead within seconds.

"Jacks, Christine, get to my room! There's a secret door leading to the underground tunnels," Aiden yelled. The three of them ran to Aiden's room and stopped by the table with the stuffed Rabbid and stuffed lamb. After a quick swipe on the phone, the concealed door slid aside. When they dashed through, Aiden closed it with a press of a button on his phone. The darkness was unsettling, as the tunnels didn't seem to be used frequently. Jacks and Christine illuminated the stairs with their phones.

"Urgh," Aiden grunted in pain as the three made their way down. Jacks and Christine looked back in concern as Aiden dropped to his knees holding his shoulder. They saw that he was pale and losing blood rapidly, which meant it was a large gunshot wound. Jacks ran to his uncle's side and kneeled so he was on eye level with Aiden.

"Uncle, stay with us! I know a place we can get to," Jacks said with slight panic in his voice. He helped Aiden up and Aiden leaned heavily on Jacks. Christine came over to Aiden's other side, making sure that Aiden wasn't about to suddenly collapse and take Jacks down with him. She used her phone to illuminate the tunnels and the three made their way through the winding tunnels to the place Jacks spoke of.

* * *

It took them ten minutes of slow walking to get to the exit of the tunnels and by then, Aiden was unconscious. Jacks and now Christine brought him up to their apartment room on the second floor from the basement where they had exited the tunnels. Christine ran to the bathroom to grab a towel so she could place it on the bed before Jacks could lay Aiden there.

The two of them gathered all the medical supplies they would need to attend to Aiden. Jacks gently lifted Aiden into a sitting position so Christine could examine the shoulder wound. The bullet hadn't gone straight through.

"Jacks, I need you to hold him down," Christine instructed. Jacks complied and Christine took out a syringe and filled it with morphine. She cleaned a spot on Aiden's right arm with a disinfectant wipe and then injected the morphine. Christine then retrieved a pair of tweezers from the kit and lit them with a lighter to disinfect them and grabbed a towel. She dug into the wound as precisely and quickly as she could as Jacks held Aiden down while he began to thrash a bit.

Within a few minutes, she managed to dig the bullet out without making the injury much worse and covered the wound as fresh blood started to spurt out of it. Aiden was paler from the pain and blood loss, but he didn't wake up. Jacks let go of Aiden's limbs and took out the equipment for stitching, got them ready and gave them to Christine. She removed the towel and stitched Aiden's wound up in record time, cleaned it up, and put a large bandage patch on it. She then wrapped gauze around his shoulder and the injury.

With the task finally finished, both cleaned up and took out their laptops to keep themselves occupied as they waited for Aiden to wake.

* * *

Aiden awoke with a groan. He was slightly dizzy, but he managed to take in his surroundings. Through the haze, he made out that it was unfamiliar so that caused him to try to sit up with full alertness. He grunted as he felt a sharp pain shoot through his right shoulder and memories of last night flooded back. He sat still on the bed, waiting until the room stopped tilting dangerously. Surveying his surroundings again, he spotted Jacks and Christine asleep while sitting up with their heads resting on each other on the couch not far from the bed.

He chuckled quietly and slowly made his way to the bathroom, where he checked for other injuries. When he found none, he exited the bathroom to see Jacks and Christine awake.

"Uncle Aiden, are you alright?" Jacks asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, although I'm still a bit dizzy," Aiden assured Jacks and sat back on the bed.

"You lost a decent amount of blood on the way here," Christine reported while looking Aiden over to make sure nothing else was wrong, "I'll make you something to eat so you can recover." When satisfied, she went to make a breakfast of pancakes and fruit salad and brought them back on a tray to Aiden.

He ate gratefully and then lay back down to sleep. Christine cleared the plates and made some for herself and Jacks to eat while Aiden recovered.

* * *

"You know he's going to ask about us, right?" Christine whispered urgently.

"He was bound to find out eventually. Nothing gets much past him," Jacks whispered back with a tone of certainty, "We'll have to explain ourselves."

"What will that do? I don't want to put him in anymore danger than you have told me he was in," Christine argued.

"I don't either, but those fixers forced our hand," Jacks argued back. He was getting frustrated because they were talking in circles.

"I know, but I don't want to put more stress on him. Hasn't he had enough over the years?" Christine reasoned.

"Yes, but we need his help on this. He's the smartest hacker I know," Jacks replied, "You've seen his work."

"Sure, but we can always try to find someone else to do it, like a member of DeadSec," Christine said.

"Do you even know any members of DeadSec?" Jacks was barely able to contain his frustration by the second.

"No, but we could try to contact them," Christine suggested.

"That would take too long. Uncle Aiden's the only one we can depend on and this involves him now," Jacks insisted.

"Fine, but you're doing the explaining." Christine crossed her arms and gave Jacks a glare.

Jacks pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a heavy sigh. He had one hell of an explanation to come up with to persuade his uncle.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry for the month long wait. I had writer's block due to the summer college classes I took and art projects. By the way, your reviews give me ideas for the story so I appreciate them! As always, thank you for favoriting, following, and reviewing! Thanks for waiting and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 5: Explanations

Aiden woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon. Thankfully, the dizziness was no longer there, but when he tried to get up, a burning pain ran through his right shoulder. He grunted and took several deep breaths until the pain dulled.

Looking over to the kitchen, he saw Jacks cooking and Christine sitting at the counter fiddling with her phone.

"Good morning," he called out to them. They stopped what they were doing and replied with a "good morning" to him.

"How's your shoulder feeling?" Jacks asked as Aiden walked up to him.

"Better," Aiden replied. He slowly moved his shoulder to see how much movement he could manage. Not much by the way he winced.

"You should take it easy for a few days," Christine advised from where she was behind the counter, eyeing the food hungrily. Aiden internally scowled, but he knew she was right, as much as he hated to admit it. They both turned to the plates of bacon, eggs, and pancakes and eating utensils Jacks deposited in front of them on the counter and dug in.

When they finished their breakfast, there was a lengthy silence. Each of them was waiting for someone to speak first, but the silence was adding to the mounting tension. A whole minute passed before Aiden finally spoke up.

"So do you want to explain to me why you both know how to shoot?" Aiden sternly asked Jacks. Jacks' and Christine's eyes widened slightly at the tone of his voice. One lie or deviance from the truth and they would both end up in a lot of trouble.

Jacks let out a stressed sigh. There was no beating around the bush with his uncle.

"First off, I'm the one who's been taking care of the criminals for the past year and a half," Jacks started. A few excruciating seconds passed as that new information sunk in and Aiden's eyes widened a fraction.

Aiden then closed his eyes and rested his head on his left hand propped on the table. His whole body slumped in weariness as he processed the new information. Jacks turned out to be every bit like his uncle, down to the vigilante aspect, and Aiden had hoped that it would never come to that when he sent Nicky and Jacks away. Everything always seemed to somehow come back around to Aiden no matter what he did. He took several steadying breaths to calm himself before he could make the mistake of lashing out at them.

"Do you both realize how dangerous this vigilante activity can become? Fixers will come after you and the number who come after you can increase!" Aidengrowled in a low voice while looking at them both in the eyes. A few silent seconds passed as Jacks and Christine waited before saying anything else, as to not upset Aiden further.

"Uncle, I have a reason so please, hear me out," Jacks said calmly. The only indication that Jacks was nervous was him playing with his hands. Aiden motioned for Jacks to continue.

"Two years ago, in the city where Mom and I were living in, I had noticed that there was increased gang activity," Jacks started, "Our town isn't known for crime activity, in fact, it was the opposite, but there's always some around. People started disappearing so I investigated them since no one else would."

Aiden nodded, letting Jacks continue on.

"It took a few months, but I was able to narrow down the disappearances according to the news articles. They centered on the wealthy district," Jacks stated.

"That was around the time that Jacks saved me," Christine piped in, to which Jacks lightly blushed.

"Yeah, so after I met Christine, I received a package from an anonymous person the next day," Aiden's eyes widened as Jacks continued quickly, "Don't worry, I made sure it was safe. When I opened it, I found this," Jacks pulled out his phone, "and turned it on. There was a video message from an old guy with dreads saying that he knew you and what I was doing."

Aiden almost facepalmed at that and groaned because he knew who that was. Jacks caught on quickly.

"You know this guy, Uncle Aiden?" Jacks asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, he's one of the people who helped me as I searched for your mother all those years ago," Aiden replied tiredly, "I didn't know he was still active since he said he was going to avoid those fixers. Once a whistleblower, always a whistleblower I guess. Always getting into trouble to bring justice."

"Okay, if you trust him, then I trust him too. It's kinda hard to trust an eccentric guy like him," Jacks laughed. Aiden chuckled at that. For the way he talks and acts, T-Bone was actually serious and helpful when it came down to business.

"So anyways, he said to meet him at a local café because he was working on the same case that I was. We met up and he explained to me how he knew me through you and proposed that we work together. At first, I was suspicious because I had never met him, but then he asked me to pull out the phone he sent me to show me the hacks that you could do. He said that since I have the phone now, searching for these people would be easier and explained how he a lead about a possibility where the case was lead back," Jacks paused, a bit hesitant about sharing the next part.

Aiden motioned for Jacks to go on, as he was getting a little impatient.

"The three of us found out that everything was leading back to Chicago," Jacks said so softly it could've been a whisper. Aiden felt the blood drain from his face. That could explain the recent number of human trafficking rings that had sprung up in the last two years. One ring usually sprang up every two or three years after Aiden dismantled the previous one, but four managed to spring up within the past couple years. Looking back on it, Aiden had an inkling about how something must've happened for the formation of the rings to be much faster and more frequent.

"T-Bone also mentioned that the Black Viceroys have been regrouping and are now larger and more efficient in their dealings, so he advised both Christine and I to learn how to use guns," Jacks continued, Aiden nodding because he noticed that too, "We haven't figured out their motives yet and the three of us were wondering if you would help us."


End file.
